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English 10: British Literature Mr . Ambrose & Ms. Stevens. An Introduction to Satire. Featuring Shrek, The Tick, Monty Python, and the Onion. What is satire?. Satire: A literary work that ridicules its subject in order to make a comment or criticism about it.
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English 10: British Literature Mr. Ambrose & Ms. Stevens An Introduction to Satire Featuring Shrek, The Tick, Monty Python, and the Onion
What is satire? • Satire: A literary work that ridicules its subject in order to make a comment or criticism about it.
Where did you see satire in Hell’s Grannies? • How does this clip mock its subject matter? • What commentary or criticism does it provide?
Satire • There are four major techniques employed in satire: • Exaggeration • Incongruity • Reversal • Parody
Exaggeration • To enlarge, increase, or represent something beyond normal bounds so that it becomes ridiculous and its faults can be seen.
Incongruity • To present things that are out of place or are absurd in relation to its surroundings.
Reversal • To present the opposite of the normal order (i.e. the order of events, hierarchical order).
Parody (a.k.a. “spoof”) • To imitate the techniques and/or style of some person, place, or thing.
Shrek: Watch the scene Let’s take a look at Shrek. See if you can find an example of each satirical technique.
Satirical Techniques in Shrek • Exaggeration • Princess Fiona fights and successfully defeats Robin Hood and his Merry Men without help. • Incongruity • Princess Fiona uses her ponytail to defeat one of the Merry Men, stopping in mid-air to adjust her hair • Reversal • The role of the hero and the damsel in distress are reversed. The damsel saves the hero. • Parody • The fight scene is an exaggerated imitation of the martial arts style in movies like The Matrix.
So what’s the commentary? • The traditional story of the knight rescuing the damsel in distress is not a realistic depiction of the roles filled by men and women in modern society. • Current Hollywood action movies like The Matrix have become ridiculous because they are too focused on special effects. • Any other ideas?
The Tick The Big Blue Bug of Justice is Here In what ways does this clip make fun of the classic superhero archetype?
Satire in The Tick • What elements of satire are present? Where? • Exaggeration? • Incongruity? • Reversal? • Parody? • What is the commentary being offered?
The Onion Read and discuss “Facebook Version of Marriage Going Great”
Homework (Honors) • Honors: • Find an example of a story you like on www.theonion.com. • Print it out and bring it in tomorrow. • In addition, write an analysis of the article (two paragraphs), explaining (a) what elements of satire are being employed and (b) what commentary is being offered. • Staple the article and your analysis together.
Homework (Standard) • Standard • Explore the website www.theonion.com. • Find articles and videos that you think would be interesting to the class. • Enter class with articles and videos in mind to share with the group. • You might do this by e-mailing yourself links.